not to be gainsaid. So ʿUthmān sent for ʿAlī, but ʿAlī refused to come, saying, “I have already informed him that I shall not return.”
Marwān then learned of Nāʾilah’s remarks about him and went in to ʿUthmān. “Shall I speak or remain silent?” he asked. “Speak,” said ʿUthmān. Marwān began, “Surely Nāʾilah bint al-Farāfiṣa…”(1) ʿUthmān cut him off: “Do not utter a single word about her, or I shall disgrace(2) you. By Allah, she is more sincere to me than you are.” Marwān thereupon fell silent.
The second march of the factions against ʿUthmān—from Egypt and elsewhere—in Shawwāl of this same year
When the people of the provinces heard of Marwān’s sway over affairs and of ʿAlī’s anger at ʿUthmān because of him—and saw that nothing had changed, nor had ʿUthmān followed the course of his two predecessors—they began corresponding among themselves. The Egyptians, the Kufans, and the Basrans exchanged letters; forged letters were also circulated in the names of the Companions living in Madīnah and in the names of ʿAlī, Ṭalḥah, and al-Zubayr, urging the people to fight ʿUthmān in support of the religion, declaring it the greatest form of jihad today.
Sīf ibn ʿUmar al-Tamīmī related(3)—on the authority of Muḥammad, Ṭalḥah, Abū Ḥārithah, Abū ʿUthmān, and others—that in Shawwāl of the year 35 AH the Egyptians set out in four companies, each under its own commander. Those who counted them few said they were six hundred; those who counted them many said one thousand. The commanders of the companies were ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿUdays al-Balawī, Kinānah ibn Bishr al-Laythī,(4) Sūdān ibn Ḥumrān al-Sakūnī, and Qutayrah al-Sakūnī,(5) while overall command rested with al-Ghāfiqī ibn Ḥarb al-ʿAkkī. Outwardly they presented themselves as pilgrims. With them was Ibn al-Sawdāʾ—originally a dhimmī who feigned Islam and introduced doctrinal and practical innovations; may Allah disgrace him.
The people of Kūfah set out in a force of similar size, also in four companies, led respectively by Zayd ibn Ṣūḥān, al-Ashtar al-Nakhaʿī, Ziyād ibn al-Naḍr al-Ḥārithī, and ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Aṣamm, with overall command in the hands of ʿAmr ibn al-Aṣamm. The people of Baṣrah likewise advanced under four banners led by Ḥukaym ibn Jablah al-ʿAbdī, Bishr ibn Shurayḥ ibn Ḍubayʿah al-Qaysī, and Dharīḥ ibn ʿAbbād al-ʿAbdī, while all of them were under Ḥarqūṣ ibn Zuhayr al-Saʿdī.
The Egyptians were determined to install ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, the Kufans were resolved to give authority to al-Zubayr, and the Basrans were set on appointing Ṭalḥah. Each faction was convinced that its plan would prevail. They marched, each from its own land, until they converged around Madīnah at the appointed time in Shawwāl. One group camped at Dhū Khushub, another at al-Aʿwaṣ, and the main body at Dhū al-Marwah, all of them wary of the people of Madīnah. They therefore sent emissaries and scouts ahead of them to inform the populace